To have and to hold

It was Michael's birthday today and his wedding day.

I took leave to attend the church wedding at St Teresa's and it was a small, cozy affair with mainly immediate family. I contemplated not going after Jeannie backed out because of work commitments, but since I had already applied for leave and the church was down the road, I decided to drag Arlyn and Nat with me instead.

Mike looked very spiffy in his grey suit and Genevieve was gorgeous in an off-shoulder lace and duchess satin gown, the train was long and lovely. The ceremony was short and sweet, it was hard to keep Nat quiet, she kept babbling away. I didn't stay for the reception because Nat was due for her nap but I'm glad I attended anyway. I love church weddings!

The dinner was at M Hotel, the whole gang was there including Keli whom some of us hadn't seen in over a year. Dinner started kinda late but the food was alright. The stage was tiny and our view was blocked by some decorative birdcages along the aisles so we just entertained ourselves. Hong Wei left abruptly midway without saying bye, so rude!

It was great catching up with everyone...counting down to the next outing!

High School Reunion

Yesterday I attended the wedding dinner of my secondary school classmate Rocky and his wife Juana at the Grand Copthorne. I was a little apprehensive about seeing some classmates I hadn't seen in 15 years, like would they remember me, would we have anything to talk about, would it be awkward?

But my fears were unfounded, the conversation was free-flowing, we caught up on each others lives, the food was good and the whole dinner was well-organised, on-time and you could just feel the love Rocky had for his wife. I loved all the song choices for walk-ins and montages, their opening clip was very well put together by their church friends and the emcees were not nervous, they stuck to the script, didn't try to do stand-up comedy and were eloquent.


Rocky was the typical beaming groom, he was very relaxed and even escorted me to my table. I sat next to Gabriel, who lives in Spottiswoode Park as well. We see each other off and on around the neighbourhood and just wave hi and bye but yesterday we had a proper conversation. He even sent me home first even though he had to run an errand, so sweet.


The other person I sat next to was Cindy, and boy was she hot! She seems to have everything going for her...she gave birth 2 months ago to her second child but was looking slim and sexy. Am motivated to lose weight.





Speaking of weight, some of the guys whom I thought were cute in school have put on a little weight since. Make that a lot of weight! Ha ha, not so cute anymore!

Cindy commented that the food was better than a wedding she attended at Ritz Carlton last week. That made my ears perk up because Nick attended a wedding at Ritz last week too. We then discovered it was the same wedding, Nick was schoolmates with the groom, while Cindy used to date him! Small world!

My camera batteries were weak but I managed to snap a few pictures in between. There was even a bit of celebrity spotting towards the end of the meal, apparently the bride is related to Wang Yuqing...remember the Channel 8 drama eons ago called Flying Fish? We also spotted Tracer Wong, and the paparazzi in me zoomed my camera to the max to snap this!




It was really nice to see these people after so long, hopefully we have a proper reunion soon. Tomorrow is another wedding, can't wait!

Happy birthday Germs!

Went to recce One Degree Fifteen yesterday, actually I had no business there, but Germaine had to check out some yachts for an event, so I tagged along. Went on a couple of boats, they were quite nice. The one she's renting cost $3 million, but there was a much bigger boat that cost $26 million. I could buy several freehold houses in Bukit Timah with that money!






After the inspection, we picked Rena and then Jane before heading for lunch at Kim Choo's in Katong. We were celebrating Germaine's birthday 3 days belatedly and she had suggested somewhere in the east because we were going to her new house after.

The food was alright and pretty reasonable, of course nothing beats Ma's cooking but it was better than some other places I've tried. Germaine's sister Ginny also joined us, she's actually my insurance agent too and Jane recently bought some policies from her also.


Instead of the usual vouchers, we gave Germaine a pair of New Balance sneakers. She likes green, and me and Jane found a pair that we thought suited her. She seemed rather pleased with them, hope she actually wears them!

Her new family home was a short drive away at Telok Kurau, it's a cluster condo and her unit is doublestorey, like a maisonette. We did the tour then hung out for a bit before splitting up.





At night, we had company over - Alicia and Kieran, along with her parents Aunty Mallika and Uncle Pema. The men watched sports on TV, and the ladies chit chatted while watching the babies.






After dinner, Swana, me, Alicia and Kieran ended up at Clarke Quay and we sat indoors at Nectarine to have a spot of dessert. It was a great place to people-watch, we saw so many weird characters and numerous young teenage girls in skimpy clothing. There was guy who was so drunk, his friends wheeled him to the taxi stand using one of The Clinic's wheelchair seats, he hurled just as he was passing us. Charming.

There was also a young girl, barely 18 I think, in a black mini dress that hardly covered her bum. But that's not all. Both sides had holes running down the entire length (which wasn't long to begin with) and she dispensed with any underwear. Think Elizabeth Hurley's black Versace dress held together with safety pins but on a 16 year old girl trying to look 30.

That's it...Gigi and Nat are banned from clubbing and dating till they are 21. So there!

Ata's anniversary

Today was Ata's 1 year death anniversary. Aunty Sarda conducted some prayers at the temple along Kallang Road and quite a number of relatives turned up. I thought it was just among immediate family so it was a pleasant surprise to see the likes of Komathi and Dharmika, and Chitra, who has actually moved to Sydney but happened to be in town. Remind me that we have free accommodation in Sydney now. :-)


Today also happens to be the parents' 33rd wedding anniversary, not that they celebrate it. Don't even think Pa remembered!

She spies

The company held a customer event at Fullerton today and I had to help with registration. It's the first time I've been physically involved in our customer events, but there will be more in time to come. I'm not complaining, got a free buffet lunch in the process...mmm, crab salad, seafood lasagne, lots of pastries...

Registration went smoothly, our door gift was a tin of jellybeans.




Some competitors even sent spies, thankfully they didn't give us any trouble, choosing to observe proceedings from a distance, though they did try to enter the ballroom from a side entrance. One of them even blatantly took a picture of our pull-up banner, so I took a picture of her!


Our IT intern Debbie was roped in to help take photos, and she did a real good job. Unknown to us, she does photography as a hobby and brought her digital SLR camera, instead of using our dinky office idiot-proof one. And when the event was over, she entertained us on the piano with Canon by Pachelbel. So talented!






Remember there was a person in the office who was not very friendly? We seem to have put it in the past now, things are pretty cordial at the moment. In fact, there is a conscious effort to change the culture in the office. Usually everyone sticks to themselves, lunches alone etc but people are coming out of their shells.

Am in the social and recreation committee for the 3rd year running, this time as a volunteer and not full committee member. My role is communications, check out my latest eDMs.



Appraisals are coming up, my new boss seems pretty happy with me so far but I can forget about any increments because of the economic situation. We're still in cost-saving mode so am lucky to even have a job still!